Tough Times

Hey, just writing to let everybody know that while the family in general is doing well, I’ve hit a bit of a financial snag or two. It isn’t a big deal yet — suffice to say Ian blog updates will not be happening as regularly because I’m going to have to start working additional hours at night. Sorry!

-D

EDIT – I should have been more careful in my wording, above. We’re doing fine, I just don’t have spare time like I did previously. Our money situation is good — I know I said “financial snag,” but that was in reference to money that is no longer going to be coming in from that source; not our overall money situation. Money will still come in, but from different sources, come September. No worries, folks!

Home Sweet Home

Here’s a few more stories from home, told in pictures. But first let’s get you up to date on Daycare Reports…

07/31/08 Daycare Report

Ian had a great day! He played w/ our gumball machine. He loves putting the balls in it and pushing the button to make the balls come down.

(The gumball machine is a toy! A familiar toy at that!)

After an extended three hour nap on the 28th, Ian woke up with a peculiar shape on his cheek again. This time it didn’t look like his hand. I’ve included a cut-out of his blanket to help you make out what the shape is! See this image larger.

Also on the 28th spoons were appropriated, misused/enjoyed, and cleaned for proper usage at a later date. See this image larger.

This is the 29th, and I’m not sure what makes that boy look so old in this shot, but wow is he growing. Like a lot of parents, we sometimes call him “little man,” but unlike a lot of toddlers — the name seems to fit. Well, sometimes anyway. See this image larger.

What a gentle kid he can be at times. Granted this is after he tried to stick the rock in his hand through the window, but still. This is him saying “Please open the window, please?” See this image larger.

Why is it that when I look at this picture I envision future parent/teacher conferences involving the words “class,” “clown,” and “socialize?” More to the point, why does that make my heart sing with pride? See this image larger.

I love this picture; there’s this ease in his eyes that tells me he loves to laugh with his family, and to make them laugh. We love you, goofball! See this image larger.

Gone to the Zoo

So, Ian fill us in on what’s going on here. Wait a minute, let me guess. You’re happy — and we’re going to the zoo? See this image larger.

One of Ian’s classmates and his mama. Ian still very happy. See this image larger.

“What’s next?” See this image larger.

Great Grandma Betty once told me that Grampa Dave was more interested in the chains that kept the humans away from the animals, than the animals themselves. Ian continues that tradition. See this image larger.

“You brought me here to see ducks?” See this image larger.

Our guide repeated her obligatory suggestion again and again — “Quietly and gently put your hand in the water and the trained manta rays will come to you.” Somehow I don’t think the message got through. Look at that smile tho! Too fun not to splash! See this image larger.

Again with the smile. The two princesses standing next to him probably didn’t much appreciate his lack of grace, but hey, that’s what you get when you stand next to a boy, sorry ladies! See this image larger.

Stroller convoy! The woman in the orange there is one of the caregivers in Ian’s class. She organized this whole thing… on her day off. See this image larger.

The petting zoo portion of the trip… For some reason petting something fuzzy is the highest of comedies to Ian. See this image larger.

Well, that’s it kiddo, time to go home. We saw lions, bears, tigers, ducks, frogs, porcupines, monkeys, mountain lions, camels, hawks, eagles, falcons, sheep, goats, hens, a komodo dragon and more! You look tired just thinking about all that. (And wow did he sleep after this was over… dang!) See this image larger.

Talk Talk

As I mentioned last entry, his verbal skills are improving. His “uh oh” and “bye bye” are dead on; “all done” is recognizable. A few one-off thank you’s and you’re welcomes have struck here and there. He can point out body parts and facial features. There are some things that we’re probably assigning a little extra meaning to: Like I said “You dropped it.” He said “Aye brobbeh.”

Just yesterday (28th) Ian and I were at a park and as I propped him up on a balance beam he noticed a large bird dropping on the beam. I adamantly said “don’t touch” because I didn’t have wipes with me — we had traveled by bike. As I steered him in the other direction on the beam he twisted around to look at the dropping, or so I thought. I steered him away again, and a second time he twisted to face the poop. His intentions were made very clear, however, when he bent over and shook a finger directly and sternly at the bird dropping and clearly stated “DOB’T TUDTCH.” (don’t touch.) He then went on his way.

He’s also getting better at making animal noises such as “mooo” and “baaaah,” although he does seem to be getting “mooo” and the “mmmmmwah!!” noise of a kiss mixed up a little. I think most of you have received a “bye bye!” from him either on voice mail or on the phone. He’s also just barely starting to learn the word “circle” and the difference between a circle and ball… he has a long way to go on that one, I think.

On our recent zoo trip it was hilarious and amazing to see him sign “Food. More. Food.”

I’ve been working on this entry for a week… I just wanted to mention that Ian’s communication skills continue to blossom. Last night, truly the Holy Grail of toddler communication moments, I asked him if he would like another cookie and if he did to say please; you know, waiting to see that rubbing his chest “please” sign an entry or two ago. Nope, no sign… but out came his version of the word: “PEEEEEZ.” You bet your pirate booty that boy got another cookie.

07/24/08 Daycare Report

Ian had a great day! We sang songs and read books. We also went ona walk. We saw a bunch of dogs while walking.

07/25/08 Daycare Report

Ian had a good day! We practiced all of our zoo animal noises. I can not wait to se the kids look at all of the animals. Have a good weekend!

(The above just before our zoo visit weekend with one of the daycare people, pictures from that trip next entry!)

07/30/08 Daycare Report

Ian had a rough drop off but within 10 minutes was ready to play. 🙂 Ian seem[ed] to feel ok. His bandaid fell off at the 11am diaper change.

(The above report was right after we took him to the doctor, this morning. [30th] He got his last two shots before he starts school! [That’s a long time from now, um… right?] So the rough drop off was because he was still not liking the pain he had felt earlier and wanted Mama close. By the way everything else was normal in his checkup. He’s 33.25″ long, and weighed in at 26 lbs.)

And now the photo portion of our entry:
On the 21st, Ian showed some of that crazy Chapman engineering skill by wedging a bubble producing toy under the handle of a wagon. The toy automatically produces bubbles so long as its handle is held down. So Ian created a sort of constant bubble-machine… eat your heart out Lawrence Welk. See this image larger.

On the 22nd, he seems to have noticed that there is more than one bubble. See this image larger.

I don’t know which screwball in our family taught him to try to eat bubbles… ok, he probably saw me doing it. See this image larger.

We play, Mama cooks, bum deal for Mama! See this image larger.

Mama’s boy misses his mama. That gate stays closed when cooking is going on. If he looks older, taller, and like he has more hair, that’s not an optical illusion. See this image larger.

This marked the return of Ian’s appetite, from being sick a week ago. He was really pounding it down. See this image larger.

Did I mention he was pounding those potatoes down? See this image larger.

Yes, you look tougher with a 5 o’clock shadow, ok? Sheesh! Now stop pinching Dada. See this image larger.

The Good, the Bad, and the Owwie

As Gp Ray and Gm Barb pointed out, we knew he was not doing well over the weekend when his appetite started suffering. The kid went from eating like a horse to pushing on the tray and signing as best he could that he was finished. (Sometimes he even attempts to say “All done,” which sounds more like “Awwdum” or something to that effect.) He also stopped being cooperative in regards to taking his medicine — which didn’t help.

Over the last few days he steadily recovered. Last night I got him home from daycare to discover my boy was very happy and good again, despite a new injury at daycare. He was actually helpful, like tucking his bib under the tray himself, and not only allowing me to give him his medicine, but grabbing it out of my hands and making sure he got it all. (In this case, a measured dose in a plastic syringe, without needle, of course.)

07/23/08 Daycare Report

Ian had a good day. He loved splashing in the water out on our playground. Ian also did 3 signs today: Please, Eat and More 🙂 What a big boy.

07/23/08 Daycare INCIDENT Report

Ian had just finished washing his hands when he started running to his cot. He tripped and fell hitting his left eye on the edge of his cot causing a scuff/burn.

We still like this daycare quite a bit. At least they fully explain his injuries and it rarely sounds like he isn’t being watched. At our previous daycare we would sometimes hear “We’re not quite sure how that happened.” To which I always replied, in my head: “We’re not quite sure why we’re paying you.” The new daycare is much better about this. Accidents happen, I get that; it is when stupid adult decisions lead to my son being injured that I get upset. So far so good at the new place.

Here’s some great shots from daycare.

Ian’s communication skills have skyrocketed in the last week or so. He’s much better at signing, much better at speaking. We’re hearing all kinds of phrases now… a lot of them I think are simply more clear and recognizable, and others are brand spanking new. This picture is the sign for “please.” Rub your chest like it warms your heart. See this image larger.

The sign for “eat” (bring all the fingers together in a point on one hand and kiss the fingers of your hand repeatedly, like you’re shoveling food in) of which can also be used to say “food” or “hungry?” or “hungry!!!” See this image larger.

Here’s the sign for more. You just take your two hands and bring the fingers together in each hand, to a point… then bring both pointed finger groups to meet. This can be used for anything, but with Ian it generally means “more food.” See this image larger.

Woohoo! Water and some toy balls. That kid’s in heaven. (Nice to see that when you provide footies, they put them on him!) See this image larger.

If you’re happy and you know it, then screaming at the top of your lungs will surely show it. See this image larger.

Finally, a picture of his owwie. It’s sad to see him hurt, but if you look carefully at the shape of his eyes, you can see he was smiling a bit already when this shot was taken. That’s a good sign. (It’s already healed quite a bit!) See this image larger.

A Few Bad Days and Nights

On Saturday Ian’s temp was up at 104° to our dismay. We gave him some tylenol and he ended up back down at 101° shortly thereafter. He had slept horribly the night before, and some other weird things were happening. I had found some very strange substance in his diaper, bright green in color. And he wouldn’t stop crying.

We took him into urgent care that night and they checked his ears while doing other routine checks. Another ear infection. Melissa did the math before the doctor or myself could as we got home. It is his teeth again; he’s drooling non-stop (yes he always drools, but the flow increases dramatically when he’s teething) he has his hand in his mouth all the time, he’s cranky, he’s got cold-like symptoms… and a new gesture that neight of us have seen popped up. He grabs his own jaw, so that fingers are on one side near his cheek, and the thumb is on the other, squeezing the other cheek, as if to say “THIS is where it hurts.” Whenever he has had teething issues, the ear issues have followed. The doctor’s diagnosis is right, but more of a symptom than the true root cause.

So if he really has them coming in, and it isn’t just some shifting to get things in place, these will be his “second year molars” six months early.

The oddball diaper turned out to be a red herring as far as clues go. I believe it is simply Play-Doh or Crayons, which can be found at daycare.

I should also note that while Saturday and Sunday were horrible, Monday was only half-bad, he slept well last night, and seems to be doing pretty good today.

Home Stories

This just in: During Ian’s bedtime story, he pointed at a block in the book that had an “A” on it and said “Ah.” We paused, startled. He then insisted “Ah! Ah! Ah!” Has he learned what the letter A looks like? Maybe!

• The day we got back from our trip I was holding Ian in my lap and held out his foot to the passing cat. The cat headbutted Ian’s foot. If you knee more about their relationship thus far, you’d understand what an anomoly this is; typically the cat doesn’t want anything to do with Ian. Perhaps he missed him?

• I truly did not mean to introduce Ian to video games this early, but we managed to find a Wii Fit at Best Buy the other week, and decided to give it a try as I had Reward Zone Bucks to use up (think of them as Best Buy coupons.) I think we just looked at the game where you have to “head” the soccer balls, and figured he’d enjoy giving it a shot… and of course he wants to play this all the time now. Regardless, I’ve got some cute footage of Ian playing it with some parental guidance that I’ll share next week.

• The other day the three of us were hanging out in the kitchen, and he began stomping his feet on the linoleum, akin to something like what you’d see in Riverdance, but without that whole rhythm complication. As he did this I joined him just for kicks. We both stomped around while Mama watched from the sidelines, and then he stopped, walked over to me, reached up and gently grabbed my hand so that we formed a line facing our audience, and began stomping with me again. It was adorable, but not easy to describe.

• Just yesterday (18th) Ian was sitting in his highchair, his face lightly coated with food, as Melissa and I set the table for dinner. As I noticed the growing pile of dirty dishes that had been accumulating in the sink for a few days, I asked Ian “Hey, Ian is it your turn to do the dishes?” At first he looked surprised, then furrowed his brow for a second, looked surprised again, and confused. Then said “Mama!” (The timing on this was priceless… it sounded like he was saying “it’s Mama’s turn!”)

• We’ve been letting him take his own milk bottle out of the adult-opened refrigerator lately. Today (19th) he tried to grab the mustard as well and I said “No-no-no-no, you don’t want that.” He waved to the bottle and said “bye bye!”

• This morning (19th) I heard the beginnings of actual colors being spoken. As he handed me different colored gears he mumbled words that sounded suspiciously close to the corresponding color, but not nearly clear enough to count as actually saying them. For example – “Rurh.” (Red.) “Ghee” (Green.)

You think that’s fun, junior, wait’ll we turn it on! Plus, as they like to say in slang on one of my favorite websites: Yer doin’ it wrong. (Video of the fun after we turn it on available hopefully soon, as mentioned above.) See this image larger.

Finally, a picture of the bike seat in action. That’s a brilliant smile on his face, no? Check that seat out… 3 point restraining system, padding for his body, a roller-coaster style restraining bar… this model is called “the limo.” See this image larger.

Included this one just for fun. The orange dots are there to help you locate the ends of his fingers. He slept on his hand for a few hours, can you see the hand print? See this image larger.

Meanwhile… Back in Daycare

So here’s how things have been going since we got back from the cottage, almost two weeks ago already! I’m going to stick to the topic of daycare to get you caught up, and then go back and let you know how things went at home. Sound good?

07/09/08 Daycare Report

Ian had a good day! This morning he played outside w/the bikes and helped build sand castles.

07/10/08 Daycare Report

Ian had a great day! He had a blast at the park this morning!

07/10/08 Daycare INCIDENT Report

All the children were waiting by the door to get into the buggy. When one of the children didn’t want Ian near them […] they bit him on his left arm. It left a red mark on his arm near his wrist.

07/11/08 Daycare Report

Ian had a great day! He played outside and loved swinging on the swings. He played with all his friends eating food and sitting at the table in the dramatic play area. [I have no idea what that is.]

07/16/08 Daycare Report

Ian had a good day! We played outside for awhile and did art outside too. We painted with our toy flip flops. 🙂 Ian had a blast slapping the flip flop on the big paper.

07/17/08 Daycare Report

Ian had an awesome day. He loves the pool with all the balls. 🙂 All he was doing today was pointing to his shirt and saying “ball.” He also enjoyed talking on the cell phone.

07/17/08 Daycare INCIDENT Report

Ian and another child were playing by each other. While I was calming down a different child Ian was bit [on] the arm.

07/18/08 Daycare Report

Ian had a good day! He really enjoyed helping me fill our sandbox. He does a good job putting the balls away before we go inside. 🙂

When all it takes is the simplest of games to make Ian smile, I’m surprised they haven’t captured one yet. Maybe the biter is always looming off-camera. See this image larger.

I have yet to find any wood chips in his diaper or mouth, so daycare must be doing a nice job with him in this situation. He’s become much better at how he takes certain kinds of steps… related to that green thing in the background perhaps? See this image larger.

I wonder if this toy-like wagon is why he constantly tries to jam his whole body in the toy (as in meant to haul blocks) wagon he’s got at home? See this image larger.

I don’t know how you even get a shot like this. “Hold this ice cream 1.5(ish) year old, but don’t eat it until I take a picture, and for the love of God whatever you do, don’t look happy that you’ve got ice cream… ok ready?” On the other hand, we hear he uses the sign language for “please” at daycare as well, so they might be miracle workers! See this image larger.

Fawn Island 2008 Trip I, Part V

Well, this’ll bring our trip to a close… five entries but we had a lot of good pictures! These should be from the last day or two from the trip. Tomorrow hopefully I’ll have a major daycare update, with pictures and “Day Care Daily Reports.”

Hey wait, that’s not yours! Come baaack! Well, he’s got a life jacket on, at least, right? See this image larger.

I was sitting there with my camera on the shutter button for about 3 minutes knowing that a shot like this was on its way. Dada wins! See this image larger.

Gp Dave snapped this one while Dada pretended to drive. I can handle a boat, it’s that whole landing thing that still gets me. See this image larger.

Cool shirt! See this image larger.

A quick trip to the island park, and it was pretty much time to head home to Grand Rapids. I wonder how much Ian understands about the cottage. That his grandparents don’t live there all the time… how hard Gp Dave is working on that deck, and why… that luggage in a boat ride means we’re arriving or leaving, not touring… Someday soon he’ll tell us all that he knows — until then, a mystery! See this image larger.

Fawn Island 2008 Trip I, Part IV

Nope the corn thing wasn’t a fluke! There he goes again! See this image larger.

Still so darn cute! See this image larger.

Ian wraps up another day with a bedtime story read by Gm Marcia! You can tell he’s almost ready to zonk out, the spell worked! See this image larger.

Boatrides became a big deal for Ian. At one point during the trip Gp Dave was holding Ian and the lil guy pointed at the boat. When Gp Dave said we couldn’t go at the time, he then pointed to his Mama. Once in Mama’s arms he pointed at the boat again… but she said no as well! On this particular morning, however, it was time for a ride! See this image larger.

And we all had a great time; on open water no less! That’s a happy kid right there, must be some boatman blood in those veins! Happy Grampa too! See this image larger.

Gp Dave even let Ian steer the boat, which Ian did with all the seriousness of an accomplished skipper. (I don’t what’s more amusing, the fact that he looks serious, or the fact that the windshield shows the reflection of the shore looking almost too close!) 😉 See this image larger.

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